Fugitive slaves and Christian evangelism in French West Africa: A protestant mission in late nineteenth-century Senegal

This article examines a Protestant mission in late nineteenthcentury Senegal that served as a refuge for runaway slaves in French West Africa. While slavery in Africa has been understood as benign and the end of slavery as a process of ‘renegotiation’ rather than a struggle for freedom, evidence from the mission shows the complicated and personal nature of emancipation for escaped slaves who joined religious communities. By analyzing the mission’s annual report, this essay sheds light on the lives of individual men and women who fled to the colonial capital and adopted strategies to secure their status as freepersons.